Isnt it time for a truly revolutionary new Mac?

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Category: Opinion/InterviewsLink:Isnt it time for a truly revolutionary new Mac?Description:: Apple sold one million new iPhone units last weekend. Wouldnt it be great if the company came out with a Mac that would move that many units in a weekend? Or, heck, even a week (although I still maintain that the iPhone and iPod touches are actually handheld Macs)?

macrumors 68000

I don't think it'll be long before we see a revolutionary Mac. Apple have a massive advantage in that they have experience in touch technology. I think they're looking at ways to reinvent the desktop computer with touch technology. Simply slapping it on the screen is not good enough: this requires entirely new classes of hardware and a new approach to user interfaces.

For example, imagine a touchpad/display device about twice the size of the wireless keyboard. If you were editing music, it could become a mixing table or keyboard. If you were typing a document, it could be a piece of paper you could write on. Imagine actually writing an email with a tablet on your desktop that recognised your pen's input (though a capacitive pen or resistive technology). Imagine annotating documents by circling bits and scribbling notes in the margins. Editing movies? It can become a jog wheel with the display on the pad or on an external display.

Apple has an advantage in that they have a flexible multi-touch system that is built on OSX and that most Mac developers are already familiar with. They have experience in the hardware side as well with the iPhone, iPod touch and multitouch trackpads. A device like that would make todays PCs look like the enigma machine in terms of modernity. It could be battery powered and communicate via WiFi (allowing you to control any machine in your home remotely) or USB.

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I still think the future of multi-touch outside of laptop touchpads and iPhones/iPods is a multi-touch keyboard. Imagine the full-size alu keyboard with all keys replaced with a black rectangle multi-touch screen with an organic LED screen beneath.

You could have the standard keyboard keys on the left and a numpad on the right. But then you could swap the numpad for an iTunes controller. Or Dashboard on your keyboard instead of your desktop. Or your email or Twitter or Facebook or eBay just sat there. You could make it compatible with iPhone Apps. So all your little games/apps etc could be used either on your Mac via the keyboard or on your iPhone.

Plus you could do away with the mouse and make the whole thing a giant touch-pad. Make the software intelligent so it knows when you're dragging/swiping/pinching as opposed to when you're typing. Imagine Photoshopping using your fingers

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The iPhone was a new product for the company, Apple already have a line of desktops and laptops.. but I get his point. If Apple managed to produce a quality sub-600 dollar re-invented netbook, or tablet of some sort then I think they could have a big hit with it.

macrumors newbie

I trust Apple to release new products that change the world. I haven't been disappointed so far. We're just having hard times with the financial crisis.
A new laptop with a multi-touch keyboard would be welcome.

macrumors member

Scent tech? That's never gone anywhere. Wake me up when it does.
Foldable screens? That's great, I guess, except if you have a desktop, you have no need for that. With a laptop, you're still constrained by the size of the other components, so it'd be pointless.

Touch screens? Sure, I want to have my finger in the way of my data. I can just imagine Photoshop with the accuracy of my fingertip. Maybe I'll use a fingernail for that? Oops, there goes the screen.

The author doesn't know his head from his anus. None of those things will be a breakthrough hit because none of them deliver massive improvement to people's lives. They're kitch tech.

A mid tower would sell like hotcakes. I think that's a safe statement given the success of the G3/G4 mid-towers. Given that hasn't show up yet, and that's achievable now, I think we've got a long wait for anything else.

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